“Problem?” Bowenn asked after a full minute.
“It’s…impossible,” David said, his tone almost surprised.
“Of course it isn’t!” the pixie snapped. “We have the Savior.”
But Sean agreed with David. Viterra was simply too big, and there were far too fewlavaniéto invade it. “I am just one man,” he said, his gaze on the map. “One man cannot win a war.”
“He can if he is the Savior.”
Sean released a slow breath. “The Sending never mentions triumph. It only mentions liberty. They aren’t the same thing.”
A pall fell over the four of them, and Bowenn blinked down at the map as if it had never before occurred to him that Sean might lose.
“We will do what we can,” Kywyn said into the thick silence. “The Great Mother will guide us on the correct course.”
“Aye,” Bowenn agreed, perking up.
Sean exchanged a glance with David.
I don’t think it’s that simple, he wanted to say.
David’s wry tone echoed through their connection.Of course it is, Savior. You’ll save us all.
The days progressed much the same, and Sean itched to return to the training grounds. His limbs practically vibrated with the need to best Anna or Cathaire in a match. David, on the other hand, reveled in the lack of hitting things. “I’ve been suffering with you and the misery maestro you call a trainer for months. It’s about time we do something I like to do.”
Sean pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes until sparks erupted behind his eyelids. “But organization is tedious.”
Kywyn chuckled. “It’s said Lhynion also detested these things.”
“The groundwork must be laid correctly, or everything falls through the cracks you leave,” David said as he made a note on a sheet of paper.
Bowenn grunted. “The golden one is wise.”
“He’s warming up to me,” David whispered.
“I am merely stating a fact,” Bowenn said, his mouth pulled into a deep frown.
Sean leaned closer to his father as the two of them argued. “We’llneed to form an exploration party soon. We can set up a single outpost and see where the problems arise.”
Kywyn nodded. “We’ll ask for volunteers.” He gestured toward the map. “Which location do you think would be safest to start?”
Sean considered each pin, discarding all options in regions he didn’t know the language. “What about Sacramento? It’s close to where I lived?—”
David’s head shot up, green eyes latching onto Sean. His body language remained at ease and his expression blank, but a wildfire of panic ripped through their bond. “Do you think that’s wise?” he asked carefully.
“I—” Sean paused as an image drifted through his mind. He stood in a dark alleyway, the asphalt gritty and fragrant from a recent rain. Before him laid a man, his legs mangled and crimson. Sean looked down at the wooden baseball bat in his hand, its barrel studded with bloody spikes.
You’ll get us the money?Sean asked, but it wasn’t his voice. It was David’s.
Yes, the man replied.Just please don’t kill me.
The hollow thud as the doctored bat hit the rain-soaked asphalt jolted Sean back to his consciousness.
“Maybe not,” he said, his voice suddenly raspy. He’d wondered whether David’s memories would ever make it into his own brain, and now he knew. David’s past would become Sean’s own. “Farther away would probably be better.”
David’s face was likely infamous among the seedier population of Sacramento. He wouldn’t blend into the background. If he was recognized, there would be trouble.
His soulmate returned his attention to the list before him, though his eyes remained frozen on it. Sean’s gaze fell to the map once more, and he pointed randomly at a pin somewhere in the American Midwest. “This place is fine.”
